The Adobe® AIR, runtime enables you to have your favorite web applications with you all the time. Since applications built for Adobe AIR run on your desktop computer without a web browser, they provide all the convenience of a desktop application.

Companies like eBay and AOL are using Adobe AIR to create exciting new applications that allow you to use their services on your desktop.

In short, Adobe AIR means applications that are easier, more powerful, and more fun to use.

Be safe on the web: Adobe AIR helps ensure safe installations by requiring digital signatures on each AIR application that identify the application and its creator before you install.

* Open documents with the user's default applicationYou can open document files in the application the user has set up as the default opening application. Launching executables or script files is not permitted unless the application is packaged in a native installer. See File.openWithDefaultApplication() and Opening files with the default system application.

* Microphone data accessYou can access the sound data from a microphone directly for recording or other processing. See Microphone.sampleData and Capturing microphone sound data.

* Mass storage device detectionYou can now detect when a mass storage device, such as a USB drive or a camera, has been connected to the user's computer. See StorageVolumeInfo.

* New networking support - Server sockets: You can listen for incoming socket connections. See ServerSocket and Server sockets. - UDP sockets: You can send and receive messages using the Universal Datagram Protocol (UDP). See DatagramSocket and UDP sockets (AIR). - TLS/SSL sockets: You now connect to a server that requires TLSv1 or SSLv3 for socket communications. See SecureSocket and Secure client sockets (AIR). - DNS lookup: You can look up Domain Name System (DNS) resource records. See DNSResolver and Domain Name System (DNS) records. - Network interface enumeration: You can enumerate the list of hardware and software network interfaces available on a client computer. See NetworkInfo and Network interfaces.

* Packaging an AIR application in a native installerYou can package an AIR application in a native install program instead of an AIR file. Applications packaged and installed using a native installer have access to platform-specific features such as the Native Process API. See Packaging an AIR application in a native installer.

* Native process APIYou can launch and communicate with native processes. Applications that use this API must be installed using a native installer. See NativeProcess and Communicating with native processes in AIR and the following quick start articles: (For HTML developers) Interacting with a native process, (For Flex developers) Interacting with a native process, and (For Flash developers) Interacting with a native process.

* Database transaction savepointsYou can commit or roll back multiple database changes as a single transaction. See SQLConnection.setSavePoint().

* Screen reader support (Windows only)Users can use screen reader software with AIR applications. See Accessibility.

* Printing enhancements - Vector printing is now supported on the Mac. - PrintJobOptions.printMethod allows you to control whether vector or bitmap printing is performed. You can also let the runtime choose the best method (using an internal heuristic based on analyzing the content to be printed). See PrintJobOptions.printMethod.

* Improved IPv6 supportIPv6 format addresses can now be used with all APIs that accept an IP string as input.

* Increased maximum size of NativeWindowThe maximum size of a NativeWindow has been increased to 4095x4095 pixels (from 2880x2880 pixels). See NativeWindow.bounds.

* File promises (Win/Mac only)You can now allow users to drag a file that has not been created yet out of an AIR application and provide the data for that function after the file promise has been dropped. For example, you could provide a list of files available on a remote server. When the user drops an item from that list onto their desktop, you can download the data and write it to the dropped file. See URLFilePromise and Dropping file promises.

* Multi-touch eventsYou can listen for multi-touch and gesture events on computers that have multi-touch hardware and operating system support. See TouchEvent.

* IME API and IME text input enhancementInput Method Editors (IMEs) can be used with any InteractiveObject, not just TextField objects. This allows you to support IME input when using the Flash Text Engine or the Adobe Text Layout Framework, for example. See IME.

* Native runtime install packages for LinuxNative install packages are now provided for the rpm and debian package managers.